While he was working on “The Mask,” Todd Tucker had an idea.

“I thought the dog was so cool, he could make a whole movie,” Tucker said.

Almost a decade later, “Monster Mutt,” directed and co-written by Tucker, is on its way to a television screen or movie theater multiplex near you.

“It’s being screened for a major studio,” said Tucker, a longtime Valencia resident. “My guess is whoever picks it up will have it out for summer.”

Produced by Burbank’s Drac Studios, the three-time Academy Award winning and 10-time Academy Award nominated special effects make up studio owned by Tucker, Harvey Lowry, Ronald Halvas, and Greg Cannom, the full-length feature is a throwback to the movies Tucker enjoyed watching as a kid, such as “E.T.”

“It has the soul of a Spielberg movie or one of the classics,” he said.

“Monster Mutt” is the story of Max, a gentle mongrel stolen from the backyard of his suburban home and turned into a Hulk-like creature by scientists trying to create the next hot energy drink. When Max escapes the laboratory and returns to his family, he’s chased by a comical cacophony of villains, including Sirus Caldwell (Zack Ward of “Transformers”) and Dr. Victor Lloyd (Brian Stepanek of “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody”).

Max’s protectors include father and fireman Mark (Zack Ward from all of Disney’s “High School Musical” movies) and his best friends, Ashley (Rhiannon Leigh Wryn of “The Last Mimzy”) and her older brother Billy (Zack Taylor of “National Treasure: Book of Secrets”).

Shot in just 20 days entirely in the Santa Clarita Valley, the production had the full support of the city.

“We talked to the (city of Santa Clarita) film commission and were the first movie to be approved for its incentive program,” Tucker said. “It was great, it really helped.”

Tucker used the lush foliage of his neighborhood’s paseos for atmosphere, lighting it so that “Monster Mutt” resembled “The Mask” in its colorful cinematography.  

Interiors were shot in the Tucker home, which made life interesting for the family, including wife Valerie, a teacher’s aide, daughters Nicole, 14, and Tawni, 10, and dogs Buddy, a Golden Retriever, and Casey, a Pomer-Doodle.

The cast and crew arrived each morning at 6:30 a.m., often with neighbors looking on, and production often went late into the evening, though Tucker tried to cap his work days at 12 hours.

“We basically had our home taken over. Valerie told me that won’t happen again,” Tucker said. “Now that it’s over, though, she said she was glad we did it, that we had made so many friends.”

Tawni appears in the movie while Nicole handled the interviews for the movie’s “Behind the Scenes” feature. Both have aspirations to follow in their father’s entertainment industry footsteps, which Tucker has mixed feelings about.

“If it’s something they love, that’s why they should do it, not because they think it’s going to be easy because of me,” he said.
Originally from Northern California, Tucker got his creative feet wet as the lead singer of Dreamer, a rock band inspired by Bon Jovi and the other heavy metal bands of the late ‘80s.

“We had giant hair,” Tucker recalled.

His metal dreams led Tucker to Los Angeles in 1990 where he began working as a key artist at top special effects studio Cannom Creations. Ultimately, his work on the film “Hook” led to the Cannom Creations crew receiving their first Academy Award nomination for Achievement in makeup. They scored the coveted Oscar in 1992 for “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” followed by another in 1993 for “Mrs. Doubtfire”; the studio’s most recent win was for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” in 2009.

Tucker’s long-range goal was to master effects and makeup artistry, then ultimately branch out as an actor. He started playing the characters he created, including 13 different monsters on the series “Charmed.” Sans makeup, Tucker appeared in such movies as “The Passion of the Christ,” and acted as lead puppeteer in “Van Helsing” and “Jingle All the Way.”

In 2001, Tucker began producing and directing shorts, feature trailers, and commercials — he became a member of the Directors Guild of American in 2007. Since then, he’s directed the full-length movies “Trailer Park of Terror” and “Soccer Mom.”

Drac Studios, which also has a location in Baton Rouge, La., was formed in 2006. Their creations and other iconic special effects characters are thoughtfully placed throughout Tucker’s home studio, including Audrey II from “Little Shop of Horrors” and the ghosts from Disney’s Haunted Mansion.

The multifaceted Tucker is pragmatic about his success in a very tough industry.

“Even technically, ‘making it’ doesn’t guarantee anything. It’s a very unsure business. It’s rough, right now especially. Everything’s in flux. The work is not steady at all,” he said. “I love it, though. I don’t know what else I would do.”

Next for Tucker and Drac Studios is “Christmas Tails,” the story of Santa’s dog, who inadvertently makes all the reindeer sick and puts together a canine team to take over holiday delivery duties. Already in pre-production, Ann-Margret has signed on to play Mrs. Claus, while the studio is in talks with several A-list stars to play the male lead.

Seventy-five percent of the cast will be puppets created by Drac Studios, including life-size dogs, and the film will be chock full of CG effects. Tucker is hoping for a theatrical release for “Christmas Tails.”

After that, Tucker is ready for his next project, with one caveat.

“I’m not going to do anything else dog-related for a while. I love dogs, but I didn’t think I’d make a career out of it,” he said. “I just want to keep doing family stuff, to create a niche and a library of fine family films.”

For more info on “Monster Mutt” or Drac Studios, visit www.dracstudios.com.